Sonus Faber Nova II Floorstanding SpeakersThese are immensely sexy speakers with the build quality, and attention to detail, that you would expect
on an Italian sports car.Review By Dean Cacioppo

Let's get
this started with a hi-fi thought exercise. When does a loudspeaker become
something that is considered a luxury item? Is $1000 per pair of speakers a
luxury item? How about a $5000 pair? What about those that are priced at
$100,000? Although we all may have a different idea of what luxury is, we all
know when we are in the presence of something that is truly luxurious. We will
come back to this later.

Sonus faber has been around since the early 1980s with
worldwide distribution and many well-respected speakers. I don't really know
where it came from, but somewhere in my lifetime was told that Sonus fabers
looked beautiful but were overpriced. Since I have never spent any intimate time
with the brand, as things do, this image has lingered in my brain for decades
with no real evidence to back it up. So you can imagine the excitement when I
was told that I would be reviewing the Sonus faber Nova II's; one of their new
floorstanding speakers in their Olympic Nova Collection.

Although I have been an
avid audiophile for 30 years, notwithstanding a couple of very short listening
sessions at audio shows and my somewhat already biased mindset, I have not spent
much time with the famed Italian speaker manufacturer. The few things that I did
know about Sonus faber is that they were beautiful speakers created with an
artistic touch and manufactured in Italy.

Sonus faber Nova II Design And SpecsThe Nova II is the smallest floorstander (they have a III, IV,
and V) in the Olympica Nova Collection. Sonus faber's Nova II is a
three-way speaker that uses a 28mm (a little over an inch) silk dome tweeter, a
Sonus faber designed 150mm (about 6") midrange driver and a Sonus faber designed
180mm (7") woofer. They go down to all but the last octave, with a frequency
response of 40Hz to 35kHz.

They have a very reasonable sensitivity of 88dB/W/m,
and present a nominal 4 Ohm load to your amplifiers. The enclosure is
para-aperiodic; which, without boring everyone with a diatribe on speaker
design, is basically a "restricted ported" enclosure. I do not mean to
downplay this type of design as simple. As a matter of fact, in the case of the
Nova II's, the para-aperiodic enclosure was implemented in a very elegant
way achieving excellent bass from a relatively small floorstanding speaker.

Sonus faber's Nova II speakers are not your average boxy
floorstander. They are mirror image, asymmetrically designed, with the spine of
the speaker containing the port. The extremely low-turbulence porting system, is
fabricated from a solid piece of extruded aluminum and it is inherited from
Sonus faber's Homage Tradition models. This, when paired with the asymmetrical
design, gives a unique additional option for speaker-to-room interaction
over many other loudspeakers. Swapping the speakers provides an extra variable
on how the lowest frequencies interact with your unique listening environment. I
found the best speaker placement in my room was with the ports facing toward the
center as opposed to outward, but swapping them did make a difference.

First ImpressionsThe instant that the Nova II's were connected it was
abundantly clear that my unsubstantiated idea of what Sonus faber speakers
sounded like was dead wrong. This is a serious speaker. I'm a midrange guy and
the Sonus fabers have the midrange right, strikingly noticeable with the first
notes of Dianna Krall's "Peel Me a Grape". I was immediately impressed
with a very pleasing and listenable tonal balance, large soundstage and a room
pressurizing bottom end. The overall tonality of the Nova II speakers were a
little laid back but not dark. I was not expecting this level of bass response
in such a large room with a 60 Wpc tube amp. At this point, the speakers were
only rudimentarily positioned. Over a day or so of moving them around it was
easy to notice a great off-axis response, throwing a big fat image with little
need to sit in the "sweet spot".

After only a few minutes of critical listening, what really
struck me with the Nova II floorstanders was the bottom end wasn't fat at all
but just had a toe-tappin' sense of rhythm. I think I was recognizing the bass
because of a release of endorphins, not because there was simply "more of it".
The full, articulate 40Hz to 80Hz range was more noticeable because of how it made
me feel. Although these are the smallest of the floorstanders in the
Olympica Nova line, the bottom end was always present and kept perfect time
giving the music a great sense of grooooove.

Positioning Sonus faber's Nova II LoudspeakersRoom interaction is a critical aspect of how a speaker will
perform. As previously mentioned, the mirror image floorstanders provide an
option of setting the speakers up with the ports facing inward or outward, while
keeping the midrange and tweeter perfectly inline. All rooms will have standing
waves that affect the bottom end and reversing the speaker's port direction
changed that interaction. Although I spent hours trying to find the perfect
setup for the Nova II's in my room, I can say that the Sonus fabers provide a
lot of flexibility with room placement. Never did I put them in a position where
they did not impress. The accurate off-axis response let the speakers keep their
tonality even when not directly pointing at the listener. I can see the Nova
II's working out well in scenarios where, for whatever reason, proper speaker
placement is not available or exact.

Within my room, they found their optimal spot on the long wall of
my 25' x 30' room, about 40" from the back wall with a little more than a slight
toe-in.

Running Through The StandardsAbout the only downside to reviewing audio equipment (it's
such a grueling job) is that I have to listen to much of the same music over and
over. If I truly want to compare any new piece of gear, I have to compare it to
music that I am intimately familiar with and have heard on countless systems. So
up until now, I have been forced to run through the standards to get a feel for
the Nova II speakers. How they stand up, what are their strengths and
weaknesses?

Overall, Sonus faber's Nova II have much bigger sound than
their size would lend you to believe. The all-important midrange while a little
set back, is deeply layered and eerily textured, while the soundstage extending
well beyond the enclosures from left to right. The bottom end was outstanding
too! Many speakers can produce powerful and accurate bass, but that can seem a
little disjointed from the rest of the music. That was not the case with
the Sonus fabers. The cohesiveness of the bass with the rest of the music is
what gives this speaker a sense of timing that consistently made me want to
crank up the Nova II floorstanders louder than I usually play music. Simply more
exciting.

Switching AmplificationUp until now, Sonus faber's Nova II speakers have been being
powered by an Audio Research Classic 60, which is a 6550 based, push-pull vacuum
tube amplifier that operates in triode. At 60 Watts per channel of valve power, I
thought it would be nice to try some solid-state amplification with more raw
power. I had just received the Kinki Studio EX-M1+ (review forthcoming) which is
a solid-state integrated amplifier pushing out a powerful 215 Watts per channel
at 8 Ohm and 350 Watts per channel at 4 Ohm. Connecting the substantially more
powerful solid-state amp to the Nova II's showed that these speakers just sound
good.

The differences were exactly what most would imagine, a larger sense of
air and with more control of the bottom end. Although I do not play music
as loud as I did as a young lad when playing Mighty Sam McClain's incredibly
recorded Sledgehammer Soul & Down Home Blues I found myself bothering
the neighbors. I just couldn't help myself. The Nova's never sounded as they
were in distress; they took the power in stride.

Look And Feel Of The Sonus Faber Nova IIConsidering my previous unsubstantiated opinion of Sonus faber
speakers - before talking about the striking beauty of these speakers, I felt it
necessary to discuss their impressive sonics. Truth is, the Sonus faber
Nova II floorstanders would be a great speaker even if they looked like a turd.
The good news being these are immensely sexy Italian speakers, with the build
quality and attention to detail to match, this is what you would expect from an
Italian sports car. From the beautiful handcrafted woodwork and ergonomically
functional speaker terminals to the hand-applied leather, there's no doubt Sonus
faber's Nova II speakers are both stylish and sophisticated.

Getting back to our initial question: At what point does a
high-end speaker become a luxury item? Personally, when I think of what
constitutes luxury, it needs to have a certain moxie about it. It needs to ooze
class and style, with meticulous attention to detail. It takes all of about 12
seconds to be in the room with the Sonus faber Nova II's to recognize you are in
the presence of something that defines luxury. From a unique design with a specially-crafted spine that incorporates the port, to the very precise and
artistic bending of the wood... all the way down to integrating aluminum
within the wood in such tight tolerances that it's actually smooth while sliding
your finger over it. Very impressive!

ConclusionThe Sonus faber Nova II is a serious audiophile speaker that I
would put against anything in the $10,000 per pair price range. Although
you may find a comparably priced speaker that outshines the Novas in one
particular area, these Italian beauties are very good in all critical
aspects. Thus they are a very well rounded speaker system for both music lovers
and audiophiles. They get the all-important mid-range right, while also
providing a deep and articulate soundstage. Unlike many high-end speakers, these
look great within your room and have an abundance of flexibility when it comes
to placement. They show off the sonic attributes of your chosen amplification to
drive them, while also being a little forgiving. Sonus faber's Nova II
floorstanders breathe life into even mediocre recordings too.

Although I was not in the market for a top tier speaker,
I'm
very much seriously considering purchasing the Nov II speakers. Unfortunately, I
was reminded by the wife that our middle daughter is about to get her driver's
license and is in need of a car. Still not sure if I made the right call.